Used Kids - Hovercraft [7 inch] (Cover Artwork)
Staff Review

Used Kids

Hovercraft [7 inch] (2008)

Salinas


Used Kids are a Brooklyn four-piece providing three fairly disparate examples of pop-punk on what seems to be their debut 7", Hovercraft. That makes sense looking at their makeup: members derive from the Ergs!, Modern Machines and Cheeky. Still, this is a pretty cohesive record.

In some ways, this feels like a three-way split among those bands, but in other ways, not. One of the guys from the Machines sings the longest song here, "Midwest Midsummer," a three-verse romp that gives some picturesque examples of, well, a Midwest midsummer. It's an assured riff-rocker á la the Replacements. Someone else sings the quicker, simpler "Hammurabi Would Break Your Heart" and this one reminds me of the Measure a little bit. Then, Mikey Iannichi (né Erg) takes the reigns for "Rock Rock Rock (Yeah) #2," which is actually an aggressive cover of Tom Petty's "I Need to Know"; they lifted the title from the Chuck Berry soundtrack, for some reason. I don''t really get the connection, but I do like this song the best of the three, even though (a) I''m biased and (b) it''s a cover. Still, it''s fun as fuck and Mikey delivers the words with a certain confidence and bark.

I'm not freaking out over Hovercraft, but I definitely like what's going on.

STREAM
Midwest Midsummer Hammurabi Would Break Your Heart